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submitted 11 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

Blizzard bans 250,000 Overwatch 2 cheaters, says its AI that analyses voice chat is warning naughty players and can often 'correct negative behaviour immediately'::Overwatch 2 has not been having a good time of it in 2023. May brought the unwelcome news that Blizzard's original plans for the game's post-launch support were being changed, mainly the pro

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[-] CluckN@lemmy.world 54 points 11 months ago

Damn that’s like 120% of the active playerbase

[-] Shiggles@sh.itjust.works 52 points 11 months ago

There were 250,000 “people” still playing overwatch 2?

[-] nunchuk@lemmy.bigsecretwebsite.net 23 points 11 months ago

According to steam charts, it averages about 26,000 players per day on steam, not that many but I imagine across all platforms it probably has 250,000 players that play semi regularly. Granted by those assumptions they just banned the whole player base

[-] tony@lemmy.hoyle.me.uk 13 points 11 months ago

But they definitely got all the cheaters :p

[-] Nindelofocho@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago

cant have cheaters if you dont have any players

[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 41 points 11 months ago

Any game that monitors voice chats is a hell no

[-] aelius@sopuli.xyz 10 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Why though? What expectation of privacy do you have for a moderated public platform? Why is this substantially different than ingame chat logs? How could they moderate voice chat otherwise?

In the context of online games specifically, harrasment over voice chat is an enormous problem, and it drives players away from VC (decreasing their ability to communicate with a team in a team game), or drives players away from the game entirely.

If it works even just /decently/ well and has a functional appeal process, this is an unqualified win. We need to start filtering out the harassment endemic to the broader gaming community.

[-] RadButNotAChad@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago

How long until information from our conversations is recorded and sold to data firms that will in turn use it to sell to us, or hacked and personal conversations exposed.

[-] aelius@sopuli.xyz 8 points 11 months ago

That's a separate problem, though. I would of course oppose that.

[-] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 7 points 11 months ago

How long

0 minutes 🤭

[-] reversebananimals@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Its not black and white.

Here's a thought experiment: since streets are public places, would you be willing to wear a lapel mic every time you leave your house that records everything you say in public and gives access to every megacorporation and government?

Does that make you feel kind of weird? Well this is the same situation. Just because its a public place, doesn't mean things can't still feel invasive.

[-] gregorum@lemm.ee 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Sorry to point this out, but comparing a game chat in which you agree to a strict TOS governing your behaviors and permitted monitoring is not the same as comparing speech a person can freely engage in on the street. The former very much IS literally spelled out in black and white— the latter is far more left to interpretation by several layers of legal entities and enforcement.

I’m not trying to be contrarian; these issues are simply more complex than you’re making them out to be.

Eg: if being monitored in public, there are several laws which both allow and disallow how, when, and by what means, many of which also allow an individual means to disengage. VC in a game is voluntary participation in a private space.

[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 0 points 11 months ago

It isn't, I don't use in game chats.

[-] aelius@sopuli.xyz 10 points 11 months ago

Then you don't understand the scope or nature of the problem trying to be solved.

[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 months ago

No, I just refuse to have some shitty company monitoring me when I'm trying to be relaxed and have fun. It's bad enough you can't do shit online without invasive bullshit, but I'll be fucked if I'm going to deal with it when I'm playing a game.

Idgaf what anyone else is doing or not doing, that's not my problem.

[-] Wade@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

If you don't use it then how is it a big deal if it's monitored?

[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 months ago

That's why I don't use them. I outright object to it on principle.

[-] kboy101222@lemm.ee 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Agreed to a point. I think the ideal system would be to locally store voice chats. If you report someone on your team for being toxic, then they're sent over for review but made anonymous (like "Blue Player 1" and "Red Player 3" instead of "xXxGunKiller69xXx" and "Purple Dream Flute"). If whatever system used to review the chats (preferably humans, but it'll probably be AI) determines that there was an actionable offense, the match identifier is pulled up and then and only then individual player names get seen so actions can be taken, otherwise it's fully deleted.

That's about the best system I can think of to balance privacy with the banning of toxic players. You could use this same system for text interactions as well. While I would love for 100% of my data in mp games to be private, it isn't possible to do that and not be surrounded by toxic assholes 24/7 afaik. And I'm personally fine giving up a bit of privacy if it means not being surrounded by assholes every match.

Now, the big issue is that gaming companies just want to record everything you say to sell it off for data collection, but that's more to do with the fact that capitalism encourages companies to have 0 ethics

[-] mx_smith@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago

Isn’t that why everyone uses Discord.

[-] smollittlefrog@lemdro.id 5 points 11 months ago

Because they want their voice chats to be monitored?

[-] gruvn@sh.itjust.works 0 points 11 months ago

It seems safe to assume that you are not overly respectful to your teammates in voice chat.

[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 1 points 11 months ago

Has nothing to do with that. It's invasive and I object you that on principle. I don't have any alexa/siri/Google shit in my house either.

[-] gruvn@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 months ago

I absolutely agree with you on that. And I hate that you can't get a modern TV that isn't always listening.

[-] JTskulk@lemmy.world 11 points 11 months ago

Meanwhile they won't ban obvious StarCraft 2 cheaters. There's a guy on the ladder that admits to it, anyone can look at his history and see that he doesn't ever get a loss, just ties. And he maphacks on top of this.

[-] tempest@lemmy.ca 11 points 11 months ago

StarCraft 2 is not making any money so no incentive to fix it.

[-] JTskulk@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Sad but true. They have a community balance team and the maps come from the community as well. How about community mods if they won't moderate their own shit?

[-] xia@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 11 months ago

Big-Blizzard is watching you!

[-] EyesEyesBaby@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Maybe this would be a great addition to their HR or management department.

this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2023
90 points (91.7% liked)

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